Kenneth G. Lieberthal

Kenneth Lieberthal is a senior fellow emeritus in the Foreign Policy program at Brookings. From 2009 to 2016, Lieberthal was a senior fellow in the Foreign Policy and Global Economy and Development programs; from 2009 to 2012, he also served as director of the John L. Thornton China Center. Lieberthal was special assistant to the president for national security affairs and senior director for Asia on the National Security Council for 1998 through 2000.

Lieberthal is professor emeritus at the University of Michigan, where until 2009 he was the Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Political Science and William Davidson Professor of Business Administration. He was director of the University of Michigan's Center for Chinese Studies from 1986 to 1989, and on May 15, 2014, the university’s board of regents renamed the center as the “Kenneth G. Lieberthal and Richard H. Rogel Center for Chinese Studies.” He earlier taught at Swarthmore College from 1972 to 1983 before joining the University of Michigan faculty in 1983.

Lieberthal has consulted widely on Chinese and Asian affairs and has advised the U.S. Departments of State, Defense and Commerce, the World Bank, the Kettering Foundation, the Aspen Institute, the United Nations Association and corporations in the private sector.

He has a bachelor’s from Dartmouth College, and a master’s and doctorate in political science from Columbia University.

Kenneth Lieberthal is a senior fellow emeritus in the Foreign Policy program at Brookings. From 2009 to 2016, Lieberthal was a senior fellow in the Foreign Policy and Global Economy and Development programs; from 2009 to 2012, he also served as director of the John L. Thornton China Center. Lieberthal was special assistant to the president for national security affairs and senior director for Asia on the National Security Council for 1998 through 2000.

Lieberthal is professor emeritus at the University of Michigan, where until 2009 he was the Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Political Science and William Davidson Professor of Business Administration. He was director of the University of Michigan’s Center for Chinese Studies from 1986 to 1989, and on May 15, 2014, the university’s board of regents renamed the center as the “Kenneth G. Lieberthal and Richard H. Rogel Center for Chinese Studies.” He earlier taught at Swarthmore College from 1972 to 1983 before joining the University of Michigan faculty in 1983.

Lieberthal has consulted widely on Chinese and Asian affairs and has advised the U.S. Departments of State, Defense and Commerce, the World Bank, the Kettering Foundation, the Aspen Institute, the United Nations Association and corporations in the private sector.

He has a bachelor’s from Dartmouth College, and a master’s and doctorate in political science from Columbia University.

University of Michigan: William Davidson Professor of Business Administration, Ross School of Business, Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Political Science, Distinguished Fellow and Director for China at the William Davidson Institute, and Faculty Associate of the Center for Chinese Studies

Special Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, Senior Director for Asia, National Security Council (1998-2000)

Numerous editorial and advisory boards and committees

Consulted for a variety of U.S. government agencies, corporations and NGOs

Now a senior fellow in foreign policy and global economy and development at the Brookings, Lieberthal said at any given time, there were a lot of issues in US-China relationship. "But I thought we managed to keep the overall relationship in pretty good shape," he said.

To Lieberthal, top Chinese and US leaders communicate to each other better now because they see each other more often.

"I think in those respects the relationship is calmer and more subtle. And I think it has a much stronger base, and is more much institutionalized, than the media in each of countries treat it," he said.